Hi All:

I'm here in Toronto (YYZ) and have booked F class on CX for next month (April 24th) to go to Bali...

I've heard that there's a warning out by the Australian and US government that there is credible threat of terrorism in Subaya(??) Bali.... Since I'm not close to Asia, can anyone tell me if the flights will be cancelled and whether or not I should postpone/change this trip?

I really want to go somewhere exotic... Bali came to mind... Any other great and safe place to go in Asia for Rest and relaxation (with a beach!)..

I thought of Maldive.. but CX doesnt fly so I ruled that out

Many thanks

The warning is on Surabaya, which is some distance from Bali. But for some time the US, Australian and UK governments have advised against all "non-essential" travel to the whole of Indonesia.

Personally I don't think Bali would be particularly less safe than many other places, but I would probably stay clear of specific locations which have a large number of US/Aus/UK people in a small (i.e. bombable) space. Low-rise, spread out hotels don't seem to be high risk to me.

[This message has been edited by christep (edited 03-23-2003).]

Bali is safe (as safe as it can be as part of Indonesia). I'm going there myself in May, mostly on principle. Other Asian alternatives (Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, etc.) are less safe. Singapore has a surprising amount of terrorist activity (so far foiled by a very efficient and effective police force, but it continues to be targetted). Personally I think street crime is a bigger threat to a vacation than terrorism, perhaps you can plan with that in mind. You could take CX to New Zealand if you want a safer destination, still quite pleasant in April if you head north from Auckland. Personally I vastly prefer NZ to Bali as a tourist destination (nothing to do with safety, more to do with what you get when you reach there).

Thanks Number_6,

Can you expand on what you mean by NZ vs Bali and your preference for NZ?

I always thought NZ and BALI are completely different

I repeat myself, but folks interested in an active Bali chatter forum will want to visit http://www.balitravelforum.com/index.html. There wasn't much being said about threat perception there today. The government warnings were posted, and a bit of inconclusive discussion followed.

We normally visit Bali in late (northern) summer and there's been some family discussion of safety in anticipation of this year's journey. The downside is that, although low-rise hotels like the one we stay at aren't inviting targets, even the streets around Kuta Square, and places like Nusa Dua Galleria might be attractive if they're reasonably filled with shoppers.

We visited Egypt a couple of weeks after the African embassy bombings a few years ago. We avoided tourist crowds, but were greatly heartened by the massive deployment of troops - well equipped, and professionally placed, too - anywhere a tourist might venture. We haven't been to Bali since their version of 9/11, but I don't think you'll see anything similar. So although the chances of anything happening, and of it happening where you happen to be, are very small, I'd feel better knowing that anyone who did try something violent could clearly see that they were certainly going to pay with their own lives.

From an Australian's point of view, i have no woriies at all going to Bali. i will be visiting there later this year. The Australian government has had travel warnings for Indonesia on and off for many years and Bali was included in these for the irst time after the bombings last year. Its actually funny because in the one trip we are visiting New York and Bali. Whenever i tell someone of our plans, the first thing they say is "...you are going to Bali?" They never mention New York even though we all know what happened there. My advice would be to go given that at the moment there are still not large ammounts of western tourists on the Island. I know people that have returned recently and everyone says that at no time did they feel threatened. In fact it was quite the opposite with the friendliness of the Balinese.

Cheers

Was there this weekend (Ritz Carlton villa, very nice it was too)

No problems, security was pleasingly tight at the airport.

I dont think anybody can predict terrorist activity 100%

Exactly!! It could happen in any place at any time so changing travel plans "just in case", is not really necessary.

Cheers

Number 6,

just curious, could you let me know what your observations are based on ? This is not meant to be challenging or negative, I am just genuinely curious, as my parents were expatriates there for 15 years and I went to school there myself for 10. I have always thought Singapore to be THE safest, not to mention cleanest, free of drugs..etc..place on the planet.

I follow most major news coverage closely ( televison,print and online) and have never seen any reports about a high threat level or any dangerous incidents in Singapore.


Thanks
J

I guess foiled bombings of embassies, schools, buses and other public buildings aren't your idea of a "high threat level". At least 2 of the foiled bombings were within minutes of explosion. About 20 separate incidents in the past 5 years, and even Rumsfeld has commented about the threat to Singapore from terrorists. That said, Singapore is as safe as New York (but no safer). Just to refresh your memory, a very incomplete list:
Officials in Singapore said on Friday that a videotape found in a house in Afghanistan associated with al-Qaeda helped lead authorities to arrest alleged members of a terrorist cell planning to bomb Western embassies, U.S. naval vessels and a bus that transports U.S. military service members.
http://www.emergency.com/2002/Singapore_terror02.htm

In Singapore, the Government has detained 31 men it says are members of Jemaah Islamiah who were part of a plot to blow up the US, Australian, British and Israeli embassies in December 2001.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...990096610.html

n December 2001, the people of Singapore were confronted with the reality of Islamic terrorism on their doorstep when officers of the country's Internal Security Department (ISD) arrested 15 people
http://www.janes.com/security/intern...0120_1_n.shtml

Authorities in Singapore continue to tighten security following the arrest of 13 people suspected of planning terrorist attacks against targets belonging to the United States and other countries. V-O-A's Dan Robinson reports, the arrests in Singapore have focused attention on the extent of the terrorist threat in East Asia.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/ne...5-attack02.htm

Quote:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">

I guess foiled bombings of embassies, schools, buses and other public buildings aren't your idea of..
[/B][/QUOTE]

First of all, I have no idea why you need to use the above tone. I clearly stated that I was merely curious and was not trying to challenge you in any negative fashion.

However, I do thank you for the clarification and your informative post. You do realise that people suspected of terrorism are arrested all the time in various countries in the global war on terrorrism ? The isolated incident mentioned in your many links merely underlines the fact that Singapore does have the best intelligence network (as mentioned in one of the articles you quote) and is completely capable of dealing with such threats, capable of dealing with these threats a 100 times better than many other countries.
So, as I originally thought, Singapore is defintely the safest country in Asia, and probably one of the safest in the world.

Thank you for proving my original theory, far more useful than the senseless scare mongering we occaisionally see.

[This message has been edited by JohnG (edited 03-24-2003).]

The US government disagrees with you as of today (march 24, 2003) with the following travel advisory about Singapore:
"Americans residing in or traveling to Singapore and neighboring countries should therefore exercise particular caution, especially in locations where Westerners congregate". See http://travel.state.gov/singapore.html

By contrast, for Hong Kong there isn't this recommendation for "particular caution", so for whatever reason the State department thinks Singapore is less safe than Hong Kong (or lots of other countries). Even safer is their categorization of Australia. For those interested in assessing travel risk the State department site makes fascinating reading. I consider Singapore to be completely safe, but there are dozens of countries that are safer than Singapore!

IIRC, werent even more Ozzie citizens killed in recent Indonesian terrorist attacks than Americans?

------------------
A340s don't fly... they're repelled from Earth by their ugliness!

As a Surabayan, I have to admit that I would not even recommend a person to go to the city even if there isnt a terrorist warning. But anywae, I am confident that security has been stepped up in Bali and it is much safer there. If you want to be really careful, just avoid places like Kuta and i dun think i can think of another place which is more crowded and full of foreigners than Kuta. Stay in the Nusa Dua area or the Jimbaran Bay area. If u are much thicker in the wallet aspect, go to Ubud.

If you want to go to a place like Bali but not really, u can try to go to Lombok. If u want to live in a place for a few days without TV nor phone, but total serenity, go to this Aman resort in the island of Moyo. You will love that place so much that you would totally understand why Jonathan Swift hated science so much. My main point of this post is....go to Indonesia!!